Discuss the role of Renfield in Dracula

Seward asked Lucy Westenra to marry him but she chose Arthur Holmwood. This makes Seward determined to understand Renfield as Seward needs something to take his mind off Lucy. Seward shows us the very Victorian way of thinking he notes the way that Renfield starts to collect flies then spiders then birds. Seward tells Renfield that he has to stop the birds so Renfield eats them. Seward makes up a name for Renfield's condition. Seward calls Renfield's condition Zoophagus.

People don't listen to Renfield because mad people in those days were just unnatural and they were just ignored. Also women were ignored because they were thought to be inferior to the men. This is shown in the case of Renfield when he tells Seward and Mina that he must leave.

Renfield also bridges the gap between when the characters are running away from Dracula to when they begin to hunt him down. This is mainly done in chapters 13-15 where Renfield returns back to his old habits of eating his flies and spiders. In chapter 15 Van Helsing gets enough evidence that something unnatural is happening and he persuades the men to go and hunt down Dracula.

Renfield and Dracula are both assaults on Victorian morality. Dracula and Jonathan are contrasts of the different types of gentlemen. Jonathan is a gentle noble man and Dracula is a scheming gentleman but he acts with dignity around women.

Seward is the only one who rights about Renfield so we only know what Renfield does by what Seward says in his notebook. I think that the role of Renfield is to link all the characters together to make a larger picture. He puts all the characters into prospect and makes them all that more plausible.